The present invention comprises a new Pelargonium, botanically known as Pelargonium×hortorum and hereinafter referred to by the variety name ‘Gravio’.
‘Gravio’ is a product of a planned breeding program. The new cultivar has stellar-type red-purple flowers, medium green, distinctly zoned foliage, and vigorous growth.
‘Gravio’ originated from a hybridization made in the summer of 2003 in a controlled breeding program in Hillscheid, Germany. The female parent was the variety ‘Grasalm’, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 16,642, with single-type, rose-red flowers, stellar-type shape, medium green, zoned foliage and medium to tall sized, and mounding plant habit. The plant habit of the parent ‘Grasalm’ is somewhat smaller than that of ‘Gravio’.
The male parent of ‘Gravio’ was an unpatented hybrid seedling identified as ‘k00-5693-12’ with rose-red, single-type flowers, relatively light green foliage, weak leaf zone, and medium to tall plant habit.
‘Gravio’ was selected as one flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in the spring of 2004 in a controlled environment in Galdar, Gran Canaria, Spain.
The first act of asexual reproduction of ‘Gravio’ was accomplished by vegetative cuttings from the initial selection in the fall of 2004 in a controlled environment in Galdar, Gran Canaria, Spain.
Horticultural examination of plants grown from cuttings of the plant initiated in early March of 2005 in Hillscheid, Germany, and continuing thereafter, has demonstrated that the combination of characteristics as herein disclosed for ‘Gravio’ are firmly fixed and are retained through successive generations of asexual reproduction.
‘Gravio’ has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary significantly with variations in environment such as temperature, light intensity and day length.
Plant Breeder's Rights for this cultivar was applied for in Germany on Feb. 21, 2007, in Canada on Mar. 30, 2007, and in the European Union on Jun. 20, 2008. ‘Gravio’ has not been made publicly available more than one year prior to the filing of this application.